COLUMN: Christopher reveals post-Fortess vision

Christopher Homes is back in business in Las Vegas as a private company. As of Aug. 31, the company was no longer a part of The Fortress Group Inc., according to J. Christopher Stuhmer, chief executive officer of Christopher Homes.

Stuhmer said Christopher Homes is the fourth, and probably last, company to leave Fortress this year.

"The future of Fortress is uncertain," Stuhmer said. "They had been in an acquisition frenzy over the past five years" and had gone in diverse directions. "That and other circumstances the company faced led to a situation where it's been selling off divisions ... the opportunity presented itself to us to repurchase our stock."

Fortress will now be a more clearly defined entity, according to Stuhmer.

"Fortress was selling all kinds of product. Home building is so local in its nature that it was difficult for Fortress to focus its energy with the diverse operations selling from multimillion- dollar homes to homes selling for $110,000. Now it will be more consistent with other public home-building companies."

Stuhmer said now that Christopher Homes is again a privately run company, he sees it doing business as usual.

"The people make any business and we have a group of high-quality human beings," Stuhmer said. "I wouldn't have done it (bought back the stock) otherwise."

He said he wouldn't be that involved in day-to-day activities but will be dealing more with land acquisitions, positioning and maintaining oversight of financial aspects.

Stuhmer started Christopher Homes in October 1981, and has family working in key positions. His brother, Mark Stuhmer, is the head of the custom homes division and his sister Kathy Foley is in charge of sales.

He depends heavily on the expertise and talent of four key personnel: Erica Geiser, head of marketing, who has been with the company for 13 years; Brad Martin, head of construction, who has 10 years in the company; Steve Hackney, company president, has been with Stuhmer for a couple of years after spending considerable time at the helm of the local division of U.S. Home; and Eric Boumer, chief financial officer.

Stuhmer said having those people aboard certainly entered into the equation when it was time to consider repurchasing the company.

Christopher Homes will continue to build semicustom homes throughout its neighborhoods in master-planned communities and has future endeavors on the drawing board.

However, Stuhmer said, the company will be expanding its presence in the custom market, doing more of what it already is doing in custom-home neighborhoods associated with Lake Las Vegas Resort, Seven Hills, Southern Highlands, etc.

"We're going to continue doing what we've been doing and will expand our presence in the custom market," he said. "We're in a growth mode, but not at a feverish pace. Our strategy is to expand moderately."

Stuhmer became involved in the planning of the 600 acres around the golf course at Southern Highlands and is high on the product being offered there. He said this is the type of community in which his company will continue to build custom and semicustom homes.

"There's a lot of opportunity in the custom-home market," he said. "Our company is totally structured to do business in it."

The company operates a center where clients can deal with architectural designers on staff. Stuhmer said 15 basic plans are used as a platform and the designers help buyers create their custom home.

"It's difficult for buyers to see a three-dimensional home in two dimensions, so we help them manipulate plans into three dimensions," by showing them existing homes.

Christopher certainly adds another dimension to the home-building industry in Southern Nevada. I'm delight- ed it's here for the long run.

Carmel Hopkins, Real Estate Product Manager for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, can be reached at 380-4574. Her e-mail address is Carmel_Hopkins@ lasvegasnewspapers.com. Snail mail is P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.

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